Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Personally, I think advertising agencies are more concerned about trying to win awards for their ad campaign than they are for developing a commercial that will help improve the sale of their client's products.

Most of my experiences at agency powwows turn out to be less than worth the price of admission, which usually is a lot more than they first quoted. Most agency creative department people have no clue when it comes to the simple business motto of "you spend money to make money".

...kinda' like "you play to win the game"...they're both real simple

Play this game with your friends next time you get together for a couple of "brown pops". Describe in as much detail as possible, the details of a recent commercial that you have seen that you know for sure what the product is and then ask them to tell you what it is. You will be surprised to find out that most everyone will recollect the storyline within the commercial and the product type that is being promoted. But the product brand gets lost up in the agencies' inventive use of smoke and mirrors.

The last bit here attempts to share one of my more disappointing experiences with an ad agency but had an even bigger cast of characters—which included the camera crew and production personnel. You learn to appreciate the emotion that flows in great volume in the province of Quebec. They are most definitely passionate about almost everything they do. Viva la différence .

...I had to fly into Montreal to be the mandatory "suit" at the commercial shooting which took place in a mothballed hotel...in the ballroom on one of the upper floors...no running water...washroom was a port-o-potty...the French-Canadian actress was a real sweetheart ...the dog got real bored

...food was good ...except I broke a filling on a bagel...I found out why the Director of Marketing sent me instead of himself...they were still shooting when I left...pretty much a wasted day